Before Jesus was crucified, the Scriptures record that He was mocked by the whole cohort of Roman soldiers in the Praetorium in regard to the charge against Him of claiming to be the Messiah, the king of the Jews. And yet, by subjecting Himself to their scorn and the suffering of their taunts He demonstrated…
By late-morning on Thursday of Passion Week the last of Jesus’ six inquisitions and trials that began in the dark of night just hours earlier had come to an end. Whereas the Jews had found Him guilty of contrived charges and delivered Him up from envy, Pilate quickly determined He was not guilty of their…
In spite of his desire and numerous attempts to release Jesus, the insistent cries of the crowd egged on by their leaders to crucify Him eventually prevailed as Pilate “saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting” (Mat 27:24). For as much as his understanding that Jesus was innocent and…
The apostle John, writing much later than the other gospel writers—after the destruction of the Jewish nation and its temple—emphasized even more the efforts Pilate made to release Jesus, and hence the greater culpability of the Jews for insisting he put Jesus to death. Back and forth Pilate went, fearful of the ramifications of failing…
In spite of the unwavering push to have Jesus crucified, the Roman governor Pilate was proving as unwavering in his desire to set Him free. For at least the third time, clearly establishing their guilt in Heaven’s court, the Jews pressed Pilate to put Jesus to death, even though they were violating their own law,…
God had given the Jews His righteous and holy law to bless them as His chosen people by guiding them into all truth. And yet, just having the truth was no guarantee that they would choose to walk in it, or that not having that truth meant that those without it could never be justified. …
In contrast to the Jewish leaders who took extraordinary steps to condemn Jesus to death, the Roman governor Pilate discerned almost immediately that He was not guilty of the crimes with which they charged Him and was making extraordinary attempts to set Him free. This was especially remarkable in light of the political pressure of…
Mid-morning on Thursday of Passion week Jesus was nearing the end of six trials or inquisitions in almost as few hours. But whereas He was judged—or more accurately, prejudged—guilty at each of His three appearances before the Jews, at each of His three trials before the Gentiles He was found not guilty of any of…
After His arrest in the garden of Gethsemane in the middle of Wednesday night of Passion Week, Jesus was taken first to Annas, and was then interrogated by Caiaphas and his yes-men to decide upon the charges they would bring against Him before the Sanhedrin at the break of day and then use to prosecute…
It is mid-morning on Thursday of Passion week and Jesus is now in His sixth and final trial in less than half a day. Just hours earlier He was condemned to death by the Jewish Sanhedrin, who immediately delivered Him to the Roman Procurator since they no longer had the ability under their Roman rulers…